Buddhism

Buddhism is one of the major religious and philosophical traditions in the world. It began over 2,000 years ago in northeast India, with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (the founder). Buddhism spread all over India, and then northward through the Himalayan Mountain passes into China, Tibet, Korea, and Japan. Southward, it reached Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Cambodia, and Vietnam. During the 1900's, it spread to Europe, the United States of America, and Australia.
Buddhism has always adapted well to other cultures, and has developed distinctive forms in different countries. The number of Buddhists in the world is estimated at some 330 million.

The beliefs of Buddhism

All Buddhists have faith in: (1) Buddha; (2) his teachings, called the dharma; and (3) the religious community he founded, called the sangha. Buddhists call Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha the Three Refuges or Three Jewels. In the Sanskrit language the word for the three jewels is triratna. At the beginning of most Buddhist gatherings and on special occasions, people say three times: "I go to the Buddha for refuge, I go to the dharma for refuge, I go to the sangha for refuge."

The Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. He was a religious teacher who lived in north-east India. His real name was Siddhartha Gautama. According to later Buddhist accounts, he was a member of a rich and powerful family. At the age of about 29, Gautama became overwhelmed with the conviction that life was filled with suffering and unhappiness. This conviction led Gautama to abandon his wife and infant son and to seek religious enlightenment as a wandering monk.

Most scholars think he lived from about 563 to 483 B.C. However, some scholars claim he lived from about 448 to 368 B.C. By his own effort he attained enlightenment (a state of understanding truth) and then taught others how to do the same. The title Buddha means Enlightened One. Buddhists follow Buddha by following this path to enlightenment in one of its forms. But Buddhists believe that taking refuge in the Buddha means more than just following him. It also means that a person has confidence in the nature of enlightenment, whether it is manifest in one's own life or in other beings.

Dharma means teaching, especially the teaching of the Buddha and his followers. Dharma also involves the wider idea of truth, especially the truth about the way things are. This idea is taught in various summaries, such as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Marks of Existence, and the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination.

Buddha preached that existence was a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. Each person's position and well-being in life was determined by his or her behavior in previous lives. For example, good deeds may lead to rebirth as a wise and wealthy person or as a being in heaven. A person's evil deeds may lead to rebirth as a poor and sickly person or even in hell.

Buddha also taught that as long as individuals remain within the cycle of death and rebirth, they can never be completely free from pain and suffering. Buddha said people could break out of the cycle by eliminating any attachment to worldly things. By ridding themselves of such attachment, people would gain a kind of perfect peace and happiness. Buddha called this state of peace and happiness nirvana. According to Buddha, those who are willing and able to follow the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path will conquer their attachment to worldly things and thus achieve nirvana.

The sangha is the Buddhist religious community. It consists of four groups of people: laymen, laywomen and bhikkhus (monks). These people are called the sons and daughters of the Buddha. The laypeople support monks and nuns with gifts of food, shelter, and clothing. In return the monks and nuns give to the laypeople the example of lives lived close to the example of the Buddha. Monks and nuns also have a special task to preserve and pass on the dharma. Often the word sangha is used to mean just the monastic community. In most Buddhist countries, monks are expected to live a life of poverty, meditation, and study. Some Buddhists become monks for life. Others serve in the sangha for short periods of time. The monks wear special orange or red robes, and are a common sight in Buddhist countries.

The Four Noble Truths: The starting point for Buddhists is dukkha, the realization that life is unsatisfactory. This is summarized in the first of the Four Noble Truths--that all is suffering. Gautama's encounter with old age, sickness, and death started his quest for enlightenment. He then discovered the teaching that is expressed in the second Noble Truth--that suffering originates in people's desire, greed, or attachment to things. Greed, hatred, and ignorance are like three fires, which must be blown out.

Buddhism is not, however, pessimistic. Having stated the problem of suffering and its cause, the third Noble Truth says that suffering can be stopped. The Buddhist greeting "May all beings be happy" is optimistic. Happiness, in this sense, is a permanent state of peace and calm, which Buddhists say is too profound to be described. It is usually called nirvana, a Sanskrit word that conveys the image of stopping, or "blowing out." What needs to be blown out in this case are the flames of greed, hatred, and ignorance. A Buddhist believes that trying to describe this state to anyone is as difficult as describing to a fish what it is like to live on dry land, or describing the colours of the rainbow to someone who is colour-blind.

The fourth Noble Truth is that there is a path to the happiness of nirvana. This path involves morality, meditation, and wisdom. The eight stages on the path are spelled out in more detail in the Noble Eightfold Path, which starts with two stages of wisdom, goes on to four essential types of morality, and ends with two stages of meditation.

The Noble Eightfold Path: A person can start anywhere on the Noble Eightfold Path, and progress to different stages at different times.

The eight stages of the Noble Eightfold Path are: (1) right knowledge and understanding, seeing the world and life as it really is; (2) right intention and thoughts, resisting evil, thinking with kindness and compassion; (3) right speech, saying nothing to hurt others; (4) right action, not harming living things, not taking what is not given, not having harmful sexual relationships, not taking drugs or drink which cloud the mind; (5) right livelihood, earning a living in a fair and honest way that does not injure others; (6) right effort, using what energy you ve in the right way; (7) right mindfulness, being attentive to what is going on inside you and around you; and (8) right concentration, applying the mind to meditation and concentrating on what you are doing. The word right means what is appropriate to help a person progress toward enlightenment.

For a Buddhist, this analysis of the way the world is starts from the experience of dukkha. It develops into a practical path for leaving dukkha behind. Another possible starting point for Buddhists is also based on the experience of the Buddha. This is the truth that everything is changing all the time, that all that we experience here in the world is impermanent (Anitya in Sanskrit).

The Buddha saw old age, illness, and death. This experience made him realize that nothing in the world is permanent. Buddhists believe that a person is a chain of life, continuity from baby to child, to young adult, to old adult. Every part of each individual changes physically and mentally in one lifetime. This realization led the Buddha to teach Anatman (not-self). This is the belief that there is no ultimate, unchanging essence in anyone or anything.

According to anatman, human beings are part of an ever-changing pattern that runs through all life. When a person no longer grasps after a sense of self, there is no feeling of separateness from others, no fear for the self, no fear of dying. People become selfless persons. They experience a mental state of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity (calmness of mind).

The wheel of life: The Three Marks of Existence are suffering, impermanence and not-self. They are the distinctive features of what Buddhists call samsara. Samsara is the endless round of birth, change, death, and rebirth. The changes that occur in one lifetime continue through many lives, in human and animal forms. These truths are often represented in Buddhist art by a wheel of life. This wheel has at its center symbols of greed, hatred, and ignorance. Next come representations of the different realms in which beings live. On the outside is the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination. This shows how one thing leads to another, or how one state comes into existence as a result of another. For example, bad habits may depend on ignorance, or desire may lead to clinging. Two points where the chain can be broken most effectively are at the links that concern desire and ignorance. Then samsara is transformed into nirvana and the endless round of suffering is changed into happiness.

Buddhism in practice

The middle way: The Buddhist way of life is one of moderation. Buddhists believe in the middle way. This is based on the Buddha's discovery that happiness is found neither in self-indulgence nor extreme self-denial. There is a strong belief in karma. Karma means deeds, but the teaching of karma is a law of cause and effect. Karma influences how people behave. However unfair life seems at any given moment, nothing is ever wasted. The present is the fruit of the past, and the seed of the future. Thoughts and actions bear fruit in our lives, according to the intentions behind them, though this is not always obvious to other people.

The five precepts: The basis of all Buddhist practice is morality. The Buddha recommended certain ways of living as helpful on the path toward nirvana. Buddhists undertake these as rules of training, and follow five precepts as a part of their daily lives. These are listed under right speech and right action in the Eightfold Path. At many Buddhist ceremonies and meetings, people recite the three refuges and five precepts. Members of the monastic sangha undertake a further five precepts, making ten in all. They undertake rules of training to refrain from: (1) harming any living thing; (2) taking what is not given; (3) misuse of the senses, such as unchastity; (4) wrong speech; (5) taking drugs or drink which cloud the mind; (6) taking food at unseasonable times, such as after midday; (7) dancing, music, singing, and unseemly shows; (8) the use of garlands, perfumes, unguents, and things that tend to beautify and adorn the person; (9) using high and luxurious seats and beds; (10) accepting gold or silver.

Members of the monastic sangha add to these ten rules another 227 rules of life. These rules are intended to make their community life work as it should.

Buddhist images: Buddhists have images of Gautama and other Buddhas in their homes and temples, as a reminder of these teachers' lives and teachings. They show their respect by making offerings such as flowers, incense, and light in front of the image. These offerings remind Buddhists of impermanence (the delicacy and fragility of flowers), the way in which the dharma can penetrate the whole world (like incense pervading the air), and the illumination of the Buddha's life and teaching in the world (a lighted candle).

Meditation: Buddhists meditate in ways that are appropriate to their character and stage along the path. The aim of Buddhist meditation is to understand the truths about the way things are. Different Buddhist groups use slightly different methods, but all emphasize that it is important for a person to have a meditation teacher. One important kind of meditation is samatha, or calming, which relaxes and calms the mind. It may also depend on the body being relaxed, which is why Buddhists often meditate sitting in a lotus posture.

Another kind of meditation, which is possible once the mind is calm, develops clear insight into inner thoughts and emotions. This is called vipassana, which means insight or clarity. There is also an emphasis on mindfulness, a total awareness of the present moment, with no distractions. The aim is to be totally alert at all times and in all activities, not just in a quiet room during a meditation session. Another meditation emphasizes loving kindness, or metta; first of all in a person's own heart, and then flowing outward toward the whole world.

Buddhist schools of philosophy

Various Buddhist schools developed in India and in other Asian countries, including the Theravada, the Mahayana, the Mantra Ana, and Zen. They have much in common but also differ in important ways.

Theravada Buddhism: The word Theravada in the Pali language means the way or vehicle (vada) of the elders (thera). It is the only surviving school of pre-Mahayana, or old Buddhism. Theravada is sometimes called southern Buddhism, because it was traditionally found in southern Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma (now Myanmar).

It is also known as Pali Buddhism, because its scriptures, or holy writings, are in the Pali language. These sacred writing are called the Pali Canon or Tripitaka. Tri means three and pitaka means baskets. There are three parts to the scriptures. The scriptures were written sometime between 100 B.C. and 1 B.C. They were written on palm leaves and stored in baskets.

The Tripitaka: The first part of the Tripitaka is the Vinaya Pitaka, or Basket of Discipline. This a collection of the rules of discipline for monks and nuns. The second part is the Sutra Pitaka, or Basket of Discourses, the collection of the sayings of Gautama Buddha. The third part is the Abhidharma Pitaka, or Basket of the Higher Dharma, the collection of further, more systematic, teachings. Theravada Buddhists believe that the material in these scriptures originated with Gautama himself, and was preserved very accurately in an oral (spoken) form for many years before it was written in the Pali language. They believe that Pali is the language most like that which the Buddha himself spoke. In fact, they often say that it was the language of the Buddha.

Theravada Buddhists believe that Gautama Buddha was only a human being, whose example and teachings help his followers become enlightened. They emphasize his teaching that: "You yourself must make the effort. The Buddhas are only teachers."

Theravada society: There are two main groups in traditional Theravada society. These are the monks and the laypeople. There were once Theravada nuns, but they died out and are now being re-established in Western countries. These monks and the laypeople are religiously dependent on one another. The laypeople earn merits, which will help them toward a better rebirth, by offering food, shelter, and clothes to the monks, listening to the dharma, and trying to follow the five precepts. In 1956, B. R. Ambedkar, an Indian layman, led a mass conversion that brought more than 1 million former Hindus in India into the sangha.

The most important virtue for lay Buddhists is generosity. The great example for lay Buddhists is the Indian emperor Ashoka, who allowed the dharma to be taught and followed throughout his Indian empire in the 200's B.C. Although Theravada Buddhists are taught that laypeople can become enlightened, they think that it is unlikely. Monks and nuns are much closer to nirvana because they are free from the practical responsibilities of lay life, and can spend their time meditating, studying religious texts, and teaching others.

Mahayana Buddhism: Mahayana means great vehicle. Mahayana Buddhism is sometimes called northern Buddhism because it was traditionally found in northern Asia, in countries such as Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. It is also called Sanskrit Buddhism because its key texts were originally in the Sanskrit language. These writings are now usually in local languages, such as Tibetan or Japanese.

The key texts that Mahayana Buddhists use, in addition to their own versions of the Tripitaka, are the Prajnaparamita (perfection of wisdom); the Lotus Sutra (true doctrine); the Vimalakirti (the name of a person); and the Sukhavati (land of purity or happiness). These texts date from between 100 B.C. and A.D. 200. Mahayana Buddhists believe these are the Buddha's teachings regardless of whether or not they originated during the lifetime of the historical Buddha.

Scholars have argued about the origins of the Mahayana traditions. In the centuries after Gautama's death, some monks claimed they could offer more possibility of enlightenment than others, whom they called the Hinayana (little vehicle). This was the term they used for those who followed the way modern Buddhists call Theravada. These monks saw themselves as representing Mahayana. They emphasize certain important ideas, which they think are also taught in the Pali Canon.

Cosmic Buddhas and bodhisattvas: Accordingly to Mahayana Buddhists, people do not have to rely on their own efforts to become enlightened. Nor do they have to become monks and nuns. They can be helped toward nirvana by cosmic Buddhas (Buddhas from other worlds), and bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is a person who strives to become a Buddha by leading a life of virtue and wisdom.

A bodhisattva vows that he or she will take all beings to nirvana with them. He or she may even postpone attaining nirvana in order to relieve suffering through acts of love and compassion. The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is particularly compassionate toward all beings. The ideal in Mahayana Buddhism is to be a bodhisattva, and care more about the enlightenment of others than about your own. Faith in a cosmic Buddha like Amitabha can help people to become reborn in the cosmic Buddha's pure land. From there, the cosmic Buddha will assist them to nirvana.

Bodhisattvas and cosmic Buddhas teach in many different contexts and to people of all levels of ability. Mahayana Buddhists use many kinds of practices, from the use of mantras (sacred formulas repeated frequently) to koans (puzzling sayings or riddles which startle people into reflection).

The Mantrayana: The word mantrayana means sacred recitation vehicle. The school's major centers are in the Himalayan regions, in Mongolia, and in Japan. The Japanese call it Shingon. Mantrayana Buddhism accepts most Mahayana doctrines, but it also emphasizes a close relationship between a spiritual leader, sometimes called a guru, and a small group of disciples. The disciples spend much time reciting spells called mantras, performing sacred dances and gestures, and meditating. Some branches of the school, particularly in Tibet, stress sexual symbolism and believe that sex should be used for holy purposes. Many followers of Mantrayana Buddhism believe in terrifying devils, goblins, and other deities. Attempts to visualize these deities, and the use of magic, play a large part in the school's teachings and rituals. The followers of Mantrayana Buddhism traditionally keep many of their beliefs and practices secret from outsiders.

Zen: Zen is practiced chiefly in Japan. It originated in China, where it is called Chan. Zen accepts most Mahayana doctrines and emphasizes a close relationship between a master and his disciples. However, Zen has developed distinctive practices that are designed to lead to a state of spiritual enlightenment called satori. Many followers of Zen believe that satori comes in a sudden flash of insight. Others believe that satori must be achieved gradually through a long process of self-discipline, meditation, and instruction.

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